Loudoun County, Virginia is spending $10.9 million to make two high school bathrooms co-ed in an attempt to stop transgender students from feeling left out. But is this expense necessary?
The school board is considering making this change in all of its schools, but should taxpayers be footing the bill?
The move comes two years after a boy wearing a skirt brutally raped a ninth-grade girl in a bathroom at another school. The school board is looking to make the stalls floor-to-ceiling in order to make teen girls more comfortable sharing a bathroom with boys.
But is this really the solution? A grand jury investigating the school system’s handling of the rape found that during the rape, a staff member walked in and the gap under the stall door allowed her to see that multiple people were in it. However, the teacher did nothing, despite coming into the stall while the girl was lying on the floor with the boy on top of her, and realizing that there were two people in there, the grand jury report said.
Virginians for Common Sense tweeted that the design that far-left school board member Atoosa Reaser boasted would offer “complete privacy” and would also provide complete opportunity for misconduct. It “enables assault and drug use” and provides “no escape route,” the tweet said. It is also less sanitary, it said — there would be no urinals, leaving teenage girls to share a toilet used by boys.
Across the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland, two girls were recently found passed out in a high school bathroom, while a third girl overdosed on fentanyl and was revived with Narcan after being discovered. This is a clear sign that the situation is much more complex than the school board is making it out to be.
Former far-left school board member Beth Barts criticized the move being pushed by her Democratic former colleagues. She wrote on Facebook that “the first time a child dies in one of those floor-to-ceiling rooms, the community will revolt.” She also noted that “some things that sound good in a think tank are just a bad idea when implemented in real life.”
Governor Glenn Youngkin told The Daily Wire that he “expects Virginia schools to separate their bathrooms by sex” and that “in the event that students require additional accommodations, a single-use bathroom should be made available.”
The $10.9 million on transgender-affirming bathrooms comes even amidst a pressing need for special education, one teacher told the school board. Is this really the best use of taxpayer dollars?
In light of the recent rape case, it’s understandable why the school board wants to make sure that all students feel comfortable in the bathroom. But it’s important to consider the real implications of this change and make sure that it is truly the best solution for the problem.